Why Are We Doing A GoFundMe?

You’ve probably seen us posting about The Rider quite a bit over the last few years on our socials. The short film that started during the pandemic had an award-winning festival run and now is a feature coming to you in 2025 called Burning Chrome. That’s why we started this GoFundMe.

This GoFundMe isn’t about helping us turn the short into a feature—in fact, we are halfway through filming the movie—the feature is happening. However, we're raising funds to make this movie THE MOST BADASS movie it could possibly be. Your donations would mean bigger fights, more fantastic weapons, and one-of-a-kind costuming.

Check out our Director, Justin Stillmaker's, interview with our Production Designer, Kyle Dodge, and learn about the weirdest prop he's ever made. Stay tuned after, to see the prop in action in a special SNEAK PREVIEW of Burning Chrome.

Burning Chrome is a family affair filled with many wonderful people giving their time, talent, and labor to make this wild film come to life. This whole team truly believes in what we are making. With your help amplifying this wild vision, we hope to bring it to life on an undeniable level. This is a one-of-a-kind movie that we want YOU to be a part of. Think of yourself as Artistic Advocates helping to unlock our potential and create the coolest Indie Blockbuster you’ve ever seen. In fact, those who donate will be sent a clip or image of what their funds went to, so you can see your advocacy at work!

Where Does The Money Go?

As we said, this movie is happening. Like a moving train, we just want you to hop on! As we gear up to film the second half of our film, we want your help. Here is how every cent will be divided:

$12,000 for crew (SFX makeup artists, fight performers, camera operators, lighting team)

$4,000 for equipment

$2,000 for the art department

$2,000 for catering (we’ve got to keep our crew fueled during those long 10-hour days!)

$3,000 for a dirt bike track and stunt drivers

$2,000 for transportation to get the crew to Rantoul, IL, and back to Chicago

Indie Blockbuster Manifesto

To show you what we mean, we took the movies that inspired us and cut them together with footage of our film to create a proof of concept, showcasing the overall aesthetic we aim to achieve. We call it our "Vibes" or Moodboard Supercut.

If there is one thing that Hollywood is proving is that the I.P model is burning out. Exhausting blockbusters with the same six characters in an endless parade of films that are always incomplete. "Don’t worry we resolve it in the next one." Studios are spending $300 million to make these, and $200 million to market them in the hope of making a profit.

Audiences are tired and want something more. They want spectacle with interesting stories and not the same CGI gloop from a factory. The success of small-budget films from A24 to Neon shows a desire for weird and unique stories. The constant success of low-budget horror, shows an audience is always willing to go to the theater for their favorite genres.

I believe Burning Chrome is a part of a wave of films and filmmaking that is coming. It doesn’t have a name yet. But I like to call it the rise of the INDIE BLOCKBUSTERS!

You are about to witness the same change and overhaul of the system that Indie films from Sundance did in the 90s.

We appreciate you reading 'til the end (those who did) we're forever grateful for your continued support. Now let's make something cool.

Here is some of the team working hard to bring this vision to fruition.

Justin Stillmaker started his directing career with an action scene so realistic it got an entire SWAT team called, which created his love of larger-than-life experiences. He brings his love of violent spectacle to The RIder where he can’t wait to share with everyone that sci-fi debris and weird images that have been floating through his head for years.

Justin loves to work in genre because you can sugarcoat life’s hard truths…with blood.

Jasmine Garcia produces with one thing in mind. Every great movie needs one good scream. What is not clear is whether this scream is on or off-screen. As a producer, she has survived magicians with pyro, literal shit shows, and filming in missile silos. We won’t tell you which one our film is. You can find her on set putting out fires literal and figurative.

Adam Peterson is a cinematographer who is a master at blending practical effects, VFX, and classic lighting set-ups. He creates unique looks and bigger-than-life images. He is never more happy when he can find a way to use a machine to rig an effect. As well as the DP of the award-winning short that brought us here. He keeps everyone on their toes, by never revealing whether he’s happy or disappointed. He might be a machine. Or human. Just like The Rider.

Nick Pieroni always wanted to join the circus. Instead he made the mistake of becoming childhood friends with Adam Peterson which means he’s been risking life and limb as The Rider. Not sure if this is the circus he had in mind, but he couldn’t be happier.

Alex Peterson holds the rare position of producer and vibes consultant. A role he takes very seriously and invented. A cinematographer in his own right but his vibe consultant skills were developed inches from childhood television watching the weirdest films Channel 9 would put on. Oh yeah, he won an Emmy and a Sundance Award too.

Kyle Dodge loves to build incredible complex visual landscapes or be surrounded by scenic beauty in nature. Unfortunately for him as the production designer for The Rider, he has been forced into dirty factories and assembles some of the most nightmarish devices and images. We hope he likes it here.

A peek behind the curtain: